Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • August 27, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 15 systems" — mandated to collaborate closely on common objectives, de- spite having varying funding sources, eligibility requirements and outcome measures to worry about. Key players include the state and federal labor departments; the state Department of Economic and Commu- nity Development (DECD); employers; universities and community colleges; municipal officials; the K-12 and tech- nical high school systems; the Con- necticut Employment and Training Commission; the Office of Workforce Competitiveness; and the state's five regional workforce boards and dozens of training and service providers they certify or contract with. "That's the challenge," said Mark Hill, chief operating officer of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board, which — like its four peer boards across the state — oversees a network of regional workforce-development programs. "It's basically getting all the different stakeholders in the room and working toward a common goal." Connecticut's system lacks a sin- gular workforce-development over- seer, or "czar," which some say could help to better guide and organize the disparate players to ensure Connecti- cut's talent pipeline meets employers' future needs, particularly at a time of great change in the state, national and world economies. Others say that workforce devel- opment is such a broad and multi- pronged effort that a sole overseer wouldn't make sense. "There's no singular agency that can manage that ecosystem," former state Department of Labor Commissioner Scott Jackson said in an interview with HBJ, shortly before Malloy named him state tax commissioner. Federal chassis Many Connecticut companies handle workforce planning and training on their own, but for those that want to tap state assistance, they'll have to reckon with the decentralized structure, one that's common in other states, too. That structure is in place partly because a core piece of the workforce- development system is built on a federal chassis. Each year, the federal govern- ment ships billions of dollars in work- force funding to the 50 states, including $42 million to Connecticut this year. Programs that money funds fall under the requirements of the federal Work- force Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which was previously called the Workforce Innovation Act. Though any jobseekers can access its services, WIOA prioritizes people most in need, includ- ing low-income residents, those on pub- lic assistance or deemed skills deficient, the underemployed and veterans. Connecticut's labor department allocates those federal funds to its five workforce boards, which help over- see a network of "one-stop" offices or American Job Centers spread around the state, and hire service providers to operate additional training and educa- tion programs. The WIOA programs help jobseek- ers like Miguel Santiago build resumes and access career counseling, job fairs, skills assessments, referrals to a menu of incentives for educational programs, on-the-job training and certificate pro- gram tuition incentives. On a recent August morning, Santiago was at an American Job Center in Hart- ford, seated in a room with a dozen others who were filling out applica- tions to work as ramp agents at Bradley Interna- tional Airport. "I want to get a good job," San- tiago, 51, said, as Briana Stacker, a re- cruiter from Menzies Aviation walked the group through the application and drug-testing process. Santiago said he left Puerto Rico 10 months ago following Hurricane Ma- ria, which devastated the island. Since arriving in Hartford, he found work as a machine operator making envelopes, but he said he wants better pay. Rosa Rivera, a 42-year-old food- service worker from Windham, said she was at the Job Center also looking for a higher-earning job. The Bradley posi- tions have a starting hourly rate of $13 an hour, according to Stacker. Connect- icut's minimum wage is $10.10. The workforce boards, along with their over- seer the Connect- icut Employment and Training Commission, also interface with colleges and em- ployers to gauge demand and design new training programs based on projected needs in their respective regions. In addition to the core pot of WIOA money, which helped serve some 26,000 people in 2016, the federal government also provides additional, often multi-year workforce grants for certain innovative programming. Since 2014, those grants have totaled nearly $77 million in Con- necticut, serving thousands of addi- tional jobseekers, according to state data. "When you look at how the dollars flow and you see this network, sometimes it looks a little compli- cated," said Bill Villano, CEO of the Workforce Alliance in New Haven, who is per- haps the longest- serving workforce development of- ficial in the state. In his role at the workforce board since 1982, Villano believes the system is working well, de- spite challenges that labor administra- tors say include insufficient program funding, low literacy levels among some job-training participants, and a lack of consistent quality standards to drive funding decisions. Villano downplays the latter chal- lenge, arguing he and others on the ground floor of workforce develop- ment are closely focused on how their programs are performing. Even with a federally designed structure, Villano said state workforce boards can be innovative. "Programs run the gamut and that is good," he said. "The bad is we're an old state, we've got anemic and some- times negative population growth, and outmigration of our young and edu- cated residents. The ugly is funding issues, academic deficiencies people have, and transportation issues." To Villano's point about performance, data on Connecticut's workforce-de- velopment results in recent years show that the state's WIOA programs for jobseekers have often met or exceeded their targets related to participants' success in getting and keeping jobs. However, other states have pro- duced better out- comes for those same performance targets, federal labor data show. Between 2008 and 2015, Connecticut workforce-devel- opment programs for adults, "dislo- cated" (laid-off) workers and youth averaged rankings of 38th, 24th and 10th in the nation, respectively. Patrick Flaherty, a state DOL labor economist, says Connecticut has noth- ing to be embarrassed about. He suspects some states with top results are "cream skimming," or direct- ing more of their training and services toward jobseekers deemed more likely to succeed, so that their numbers look bet- ter. Connecticut isn't doing that, he said. "And so I think that if we are show- ing that we're average, I think it's because we're doing our job," Flaherty said. "We are working hard to try to help the hard-to-serve, and that's go- ing to hurt our numbers." DOL noted that its team is working on ways to better measure perfor- mance outcomes. The state's role While the federal government plays a major role in workforce development, the state's own policies can't be overlooked. When Malloy took office, strength- ening the workforce quickly became one of his top priorities. "We had convinced ourselves manufacturing was going to go away," Malloy said in a recent interview. "As a state, we took our eye off the ball." In 2011, Malloy pushed through a jobs bill that's provided hundreds of SPECIAL SERIES CT's most in-demand jobs Some of the most common jobs in Connecticut are also expected to see the great- est number of openings. Of the top 10, only half pay more than $30,000 a year. Est. annual openings, Hourly 2014-2024 wage Retail salespersons 2,062 $13.59 Cashiers 1,682 $11.16 Waiters 1,398 $11.29 Food prep/fast food 1,236 $11.49 General operations managers 1,153 $68.64 Registered nurses 994 $37.72 Customer service reps 980 $19.52 Personal care aides 861 $12.94 Freight/stock/material movers 851 $15.09 Office clerks 813 $17.97 Source: CT Department of Labor Pete Gioia, Economist, Connecticut Business & Industry Association Bill Villano, CEO, Workforce Alliance Patrick Flaherty, Labor Economist, Connecticut Department of Labor Briana Stacker, working as a recruiter for Bradley Airport, helps Miguel Santiago fill out a job application at the American Job Center in Hartford. HBJ PHOTO | MATT PILON

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